Posted by gunste
a resident of Portola Valley: Ladera
on Jun 5, 2013 at 1:19 pm

Another disruption of traffic and inconvenience for locals for the sake of fund raising. And, Palo Alto faces another batch of police overtime which is not reimbursed.
What we need is a nice guest house at SFO, SJC and Moffet Field, so Presidents can come without disrupting the towns they visit.

The worst president is the one who caused the drop in the 'bikini' portion of the above graph Feb 08 - Jan 09 (we know you've tried to forget, went by 'dubya', or something.) The president who orchestrated the recovery from the worst economic calamity since the First Republican Great Depression, ranks far higher than Katrina Boy Wonder, just for the economic recovery alone.

As for your inane statement "He should spend his time constructively": do you mean like the way dubya spent *all* of August 2001 in Crawford, despite being read the August 6 PDB titled Bin Ladin Determined to Attack In US. Instead of hopping back to work, he stayed on vacation in Texas.

Posted by E B T
a resident of another community
on Jun 5, 2013 at 5:51 pm

Perhaps Mr Obama's and the Dem's should put this fund raiser money toward EBT users and all the fraud along with it. Last year EBT users spent 12 million in Vagas on booze, strippers and gambling. Or maybe he could send a check for OT to good folks who work everyday. Or better yet send the money to all the good American 503c groups who have been disinfrancized by this administration

"Last year EBT users spent 12 million in Vagas on booze, strippers and gambling."

Vagas?

Besides being off topic, this is just a absurd meme that is going around on the fringe websites, like malkin, free republic, etc.. The far right has no policy ideas, no solutions and is in the middle of fracturing, so they have decided instead of good policy, they will chase scandal instead. Doesn't have to be true, just has to be loud.

The closest I could come on a quick google is this statement "California: $69 million in EBT funds withdrawn outside the state's borders in recent years, including almost $12 million withdrawn in Las Vegas." The souce appears to be watchdog.org Web Link

The only link provided was this Web Link but not to an article or investigation. A search at that site using the words "ebt fraud" yielded nothing.

Another dead end, like most fringe right wing scandal stories.

Of course, the right wing isn't interested in documented fraud by Halliburton in Iraq, which cost American taxpayers far more money. Or interested in the Billion Dollar Medicare fraud perpetuated by FL Gov Rick Scott (R-Fraud). Scott's company settled his Medicare fraud for $840 million in criminal fines and civil damages and penalties. Web Link

$840 million.

So yeah, Obama should work on someone using an EBT card at a 7/11 across state lines, while the real crooks steal us blind.

Posted by Susan Smith
a resident of Woodside: other
on Jun 6, 2013 at 10:05 pm

Send the bill to the hosts of these affairs...and shouldn't that guy be working behind his desk, or at least raising money for federal programs instead of the Democratic party. What if a republican behaved this way...repeatedly? I have lost all respect for Obama.

Recorded surreptitiously at the home of Marc Leder Web Link and from Rupert Murdoch's sleaze paper Web Link

As an example, do you know how many hours a day that a congressman just sits at the phone, every day of every week of every month, making pitch calls, dialing for dollars?

Not working on their job, but working to beg for money to be reelected.

> "The amount of time that members of Congress in both parties spend fundraising is widely known to take up an obscene portion of a typical day -- whether it's "call time" spent on the phone with potential donors, or in person at fundraisers in Washington or back home. Seeing it spelled out in black and white, however, can be a jarring experience for a new member, as related by some who attended the November orientation.

> A PowerPoint presentation to incoming freshmen by the DCCC, obtained by The Huffington Post, lays out the dreary existence awaiting these new back-benchers. The daily schedule prescribed by the Democratic leadership contemplates a nine or 10-hour day while in Washington. Of that, four hours are to be spent in "call time" and another hour is blocked off for "strategic outreach," which includes fundraisers and press work."

4 to 5 hours a day, just to raise money to be reelected.

One of the many costs of Call Time? Any chance that the pols will have time to work on legislation or even get together:

> "As Ezra Klein points out, all that fundraising leaves little time for things such as, say, having lunch with your colleagues. "We're not here on Mondays," Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, told Klein. "Tuesday is the party caucuses. Thursday's the policy lunch and Friday you're out of here. So that only leaves Wednesday. And what are people doing Wednesday? They're out raising money. Everybody's at a fundraiser. I mean, so there is no time any longer for these lunches that we used to have." "

Support public financing of elections. Otherwise, complaining about the existing system reeks of hypocrisy, especially if you think your side doesn't do it.

Posted by Lets Make a Deal
a resident of Woodside: Woodside Hills
on Jun 7, 2013 at 12:27 pm

Vinod Khosla has seen better days. He was once a VC tour de force in the Valley. Now he is just a glad hander for mediocre presidents.

Arvind Sodhani is by far the best deal maker in the valley. His deals are bigger, more complex, and require diplomacy with multiple foreign governments and IGOs not to mention the U.S Government which is not exactly known for promoting business in the United States. Sodhani is the VC maestro of Silicon Valley; the rest of us are just children at his feet. He has earned the distinguished title of Top Brahmin.

Posted by Hmmm
a resident of another community
on Jun 8, 2013 at 1:57 pm

Speaking of Sodhani - I'm one person who isn't a child at his feet. Those working in the midst of Sili Valley like to pretend that there isn't life outside there bubble, but indeed, there is.

As for Khosla & his ilk, if they're going to emigrate here, they need to be mindful of our traditions - which include not preventing access to a public beach. Elitist, egomaniacal cretins like Khosla love to toot their own horns, but you know, no matter who dies w/the most toys is, nevertheless, still dead.

Posted by Late Nite with Obama
a resident of Portola Valley: Portola Valley Ranch
on Jun 9, 2013 at 6:27 am

A new report shows that the Obama administration has been collecting the telephone records of millions of customers of Verizon under a top-secret court order. Here's the sad part. It turns out that 90 percent of the phone calls Americans make are to order a pizza.

When I was growing up, we were afraid of Big Brother watching us. Now with Obama, we actually have a brother watching us.

It's come out that the government has been secretly collecting telephone records of millions of Verizon customers. Yeah, or as Verizon is calling it, "The friends and family and Obama plan."

Another scandal hit the White House today. A report found that the government has been secretly collecting the phone records of Verizon customers. I knew something was up when I said, "You hang up first." Then my wife said, "No, YOU hang up first!" Then Obama said, "Uh, how about you just hang up at the same time?"

The National Security Agency has been collecting the phone records of Verizon customers since April. That explains Verizon's new ad campaign: "They can hear you now."

Posted by neighbor
a resident of another community
on Jun 9, 2013 at 9:41 am

Bush started the phone surveillance, Obama continued it. Do you really think if Romney had won (lordy) that he would have stopped it?

Regrettably surveillance happens to work, it stopped a major terrorism attack.

You are already under surveillance every place you go everyday: At the shopping center, market, Costco, City Hall, School, driving on the street, walking in your neighborhood, knocking on your neighbor's door.

Posted by Late Night with Obama
a resident of Portola Valley: Portola Valley Ranch
on Jun 9, 2013 at 11:15 am

On October 19, 1963, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who served under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, authorized the FBI to begin wiretapping the communications of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. The wiretaps remained in place until April 1965 at his home and June 1966 at his office.

Were Jack Kennedy & LBJ jealous of Martin Luther King with regard to bedding the beauties and wanted to keep tabs on the competition or was it racism?

That example, with what we learned from the Church hearings in the 70's, along with the experience of Dick Nixon's criminal gang, are the exact reason we need healthy oversight of all surveillance activities, with strictest adherence to the Constitution and the 4th Amendment's protection of privacy.

Absolute surveillance (like absolute power) corrupts absolutely. Sooner or later, someone will go too far either in an official capacity or (like the IRS in Cincinnati) go rogue.

IV: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized

Posted by another realist
a resident of Portola Valley: other
on Jun 9, 2013 at 4:50 pm

don't actually care if Obama is here or not.. Didn't vote for him or for Romney either.

It would be nice, however, when he visits one of his party's favorite ATM machines that he spends some time learning about the problems we have in CA.. His interest beyond raising money apparently is trying to learn how to win his basketball pool from the kid of one of his hosts.

Don't miss out on the discussion!Sign up to be notified of new comments on this topic.

Email:

Post a comment

Posting an item on Town Square is simple and requires no registration. Just complete this form and hit "submit" and your topic will appear online.
Please be respectful and truthful in your postings so Town Square will continue to be a thoughtful gathering place for sharing community information
and opinion. All postings are subject to our TERMS OF USE, and may be deleted if deemed inappropriate by our staff.

We prefer that you use your real name, but you may use any "member" name you wish.